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Sunday, November 2, 2008

It's Up To Us

Well it’s 2 days and counting. One of the drawbacks to living in a solidly Blue state is that we don’t get a final in-person appearance by either major party candidate. One erroneous thing the media has been reporting is how much more money the Obama campaign has – as if there’s something nefarious about it. This plays into the shock and awe the white corporate media still displays in underestimating the appeal of Obama to a wide swath of voters and the continued “othering” of his candidacy.

The RNC has in fact raised more money than the DNC and they had a combined total of $20M MORE than the Democrats as of Oct 15th . This just goes to show you – do not listen to the what the media says! They did a virtual shut-out of the Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and we deserved to hear their platform regardless. Locally we have Cindy Sheehan running for Speaker Pelosi’s Congressional seat and she is also being given the media cold shoulder. By the way the Paul v. Clinton campaign finance fraud case is still scheduled to begin next week in Los Angeles.

Those volunteering are being asked to court voters in other states in that last push to Get Out the Vote. After all the advertisements, the robo calls, the campaign messages, the lack of balanced reporting by the media, the questions, the fears and the hesitation must be put aside at some point. The lack of knowledge must be accounted for. We are not operating at mental incapacity, but intellectual inefficiency and excuse-making.

Why are some still voting for the Pig, er Elephant? People at the McCain/Palin rallies would cheer for anything they say, while booing if Obama’s name is mentioned. All they have is the assertion of their whiteness. Now to be sure there are many who are voting for the continuation of their corporate tax breaks. As well as the real redistribution of wealth by taxing the poor and giving it to the rich: the latest welfare check going to AIG to the tune of $21B even after they’ve been busted for throwing million dollar parties and the pending bonuses going to the banking executives who cried wolf. What about the rest?

What of those McCain supporters who know better be they white and especially for the non-white ones who silently give their approval of his racial arson by closing their eyes to it. They may be a single-issue voter but the entire boat is sinking. With the vast majority of policies detrimental to the population filling those holes with plugs won’t save the rest of us from that pending tidal wave on the horizon. Remember Bush promised to bring honor and integrity back to the White House when he first ran.

If Obama loses on Tuesday it won’t be because he didn’t do everything in his power to win. It won’t be because he left any stone unturned. He raised more money than any candidate period without taking PAC money and using 527 groups. For all the whining McCain did about Obama not keeping his promise to stick to federal funding with its $84M cap, he has not discussed all the money he’s accessed via back channels and loopholes or how he used his wife’s vast resources like her jet for his use.

Obama instead asked for the voters to fully participate in ‘their’ campaign, started out slowly and now has millions of people volunteering across the country. You have to have some pull to get people to work – enthusiastically – for free! He learned from the previous mistakes of the last two Democratic nominees. He fought every attempt at Republican malfeasance at stealing people’s votes. He is his own person, not aligning himself with the left too handily nor adopting the ‘shoot first ask questions later’ lead footedness of the conservatives. He actually stresses educating oneself and asking questions. He strategized and remained focused even as he’s been attacked and played it a little too safe at times.

No, if Obama loses it won’t be because of him. It will be OUR FAULT. For being shortsighted, for not doing enough, for taking refuge in useless racial paradigms, for not believing and for wallowing in helplessness. See I don’t agree with every Obama platform, heck I don’t think I’d necessary get along with every Obama supporter! If we want to actually have that change in gov’t, in society and in ourselves that’s been mocked we have to change. Obama has said it numerous times but I’m not sure how many of us actually heard him: it’s up to us!

It has always been in our hands. This is bigger than the Tuesday Presidential election results, though that is the starting point. We can look back and blame Bush, Dick Cheney and the entire administration for destroying the country, but we were given a clear preview of all the wrong to come by the time Bush was selected by the Supreme Court. It went from uncomfortable, to horrible, to disgusting, to wretched, to catastrophe. Here we are in the midst of it and still some people are not moved to take action in the right direction.

There are some third party candidates with great platforms as well and their numbers are going to be lower, but they also resonated with some and their message shouldn’t be discarded per se. We should have the right to vote for whomever we want and have that vote count. We must also see the big picture and throw our support behind those most likely to get things done. Sometimes it’s good to be like a bee buzzing in somebody’s ear though.

We will need to take full responsibility for the people we put in office. There are quite a few shady Democratic politicians as well. This is not a partisan focus, but one of electing people who have our best interests at heart. Obama promises transparency: let’s make sure we get it from ALL of them!! The Black Agenda Report is a great tool we need such a report for every politician in office.

Perhaps we also need to start nurturing other ‘unlikely’ candidates as well. Someone with a vision of what they’d like the country to be who isn’t a ‘professional politician’. You know perhaps now is the time to stop looking to others for answers and take the leadership role ourselves. Every office holder should not have to have a JD or have attended an Ivy League school. Common sense, compassion and intelligence are qualities we can all cultivate. It’s truly up to us!